The Final Quest
The Final Quest is the eighth book in the Secrets of Droon Special Edition series. It is also the last book in the entire Secrets of Droon series. Official Description An immortal dragon with a terrifying vision. A long hidden secret. The kingdom of Droon is at the brink of war. . . The situation in Droon has never been more desperate. The wizard Galen is missing. Eric has been forced undercover with Gethwing, the all-powerful Moon Dragon. And millions of beasts are assembling outside Jaffa City, ready to attack Droon's capital. Eric, Keeah, Neal, and Julie will do whatever it takes to save their beloved kingdom. But to defeat the Moon Dragon, they'll need to uncover the greatest secret in all of Droon. . . Chapters #The Half Prophecy #War of the Words #The Living Stone #Revenge of the Hunters #Underwater, Underground #The Falling City #In the Green Paradise #In the Temple Precincts #Raising the Unwanted Dead #Mysteries and Secrets #The Wraiths of Wrath #The Long Story Plot The book starts with Eric (disguised as Ungast) riding on Gethwing, the immortal dragon. Eric is currently trying to take apart Gethwing's plans from within. When Eric requests to check on Lord Sparr, Gethwing agrees, even though the Moon Dragon knows that he will dispose of the older sorcerer anyway. Afterwards, Gethwing refers to a prophecy made on the night of his birth, which goes as follows: Five shall pass away, four shall wear the crown, three shall fall, two shall rise together, and one shall rise from the ashes and never see the end of days. (Gethwing does not tell Eric the line about the "one" in the prophecy until later.) Just before Eric leaves, Gethwing hands him a black, freezing bracelet that the dragon claims to have used in the past "to alert (him) to betrayers". Eric thanks him and departs. Riding a groggle, Eric takes out the Moon Medallion and reflects as he heads for Sparr. He arrives, seeing Sparr attack Zorfendorf Castle. As Sparr heads into the castle, Eric follows him and enters the place's royal library. As he walks through the doors of the library, Eric sees three birds alight on the shelves. Just then, he also sees Thog, the royal librarian. Thog hands Eric a scroll from Galen (dropped off by the birds) containing the words "Collect the magics". Additionally, just before Eric leaves, Thog shows him a strangely blank map to the legendary Seven Cities of Gold, stating that Prince Zorfendorf had collected it before Thog arrived at the library. Notably, the map has an emblem of a silver tree on it. Eric bumps into Max, who tells the young wizard that he got separated from Julie, Neal, and Princess Keeah. Eric hands Max the Moon Medallion and tells him to hang onto it while he talks to Sparr, then continues to chase after the sorcerer. When Eric finally catches up to Sparr, the older wizard reveals, through his actions, that he went to Zorfendorf Castle to summon Queen Zara's stone boat. Eric allies with him and (secretly) helps him assemble it. Afterwards, Eric calls Max to him, and Max not only gives the Moon Medallion back, he also brings along a magic chest, in which Keeah, Neal, and Julie are hiding. With Eric, Max, and the chest on board, Sparr steers the stone ship onto the Fifth River and into the Upper World--specifically, Silver Lake, a lake near Eric's hometown. There, Gethwing's Hunters attack them. Eric's parents chase after the Hunters, as they have kidnapped Meredith, Eric's old classmate (who is also Keeah's aunt, Witch Demither). As Eric's parents direct the party towards Silver Lake's dam's power plant, where Meredith is held, the Hunters make a final attack and smash the dam. Eric and Keeah hold back the surging water with a wall of magic, while Neal struggles to reassemble the dam. As the water piles higher and higher, Eric mentally contacts Sparr, who snaps out of the reverie he has been in since the start of the book and reins the water back into the lake. Keeah, Eric, and Max then reassemble the dam in Neal's stead. The party rescue Meredith from the Hunters, and Meredith resumes her old form as Demither. She and Sparr then reveal that they both went to the Upper World to retrieve the Wand of Urik, currently stuck in a time loop. The party dives into Silver Lake, and Eric snatches the wand from its time loop. As they head back for Droon, the party meets Nelag, Captain Bludge, and Kem. Nelag reveals that he has received a dream from Queen Zara that tells him to bring her the Wand of Urik immediately. They all travel to Jaffa City, where they meet King Zello and Queen Relna, who are very busy fending off Gethwing's armies. Nelag, Bludge, and Demither leave, and Keeah shares a few moments with her parents. Afterwards, the group meets up with Pasha (from The Race to Doobesh) and gets some fast transport to Bangledorn Forest, where Queen Zara's body is. In Bangledorn Forest, Twee, Woot, Weaf, and Queen Ortha tell the group that the Forest has been invaded by Gethwing's wingwolves, but the Lumpies should arrive shortly to defend the place. As the party travels deeper into Bangledorn Forest, a great green dragon attacks them, but Kem startles it, and the dragon reveals itself to actually be Jabbo, the diminutive dragon ruler of Doobesh. Jabbo also reports that he has received a dream from Queen Zara. Kem leads everyone to the Temple of Zara, embedded in the Forest's Dream Tree. In the Temple of Zara, Eric and Sparr use the Moon Medallion and the Wand of Urik in combination to revive Queen Zara, who announces that it is time to fulfill destiny and save Droon. Zara shows everyone a map of Droon that also contains the Passages, tunnels connecting the various parts of Droon. She claims that Galen, who has been missing for books, is not actually lost and is currently in the Passages, searching for Emperor Ko. The party, now one stronger, head for the Passages, where they find a collection of creatures called mooples and meet Galen and Salamandra. They move to northern Droon, where they find Ko's body. Salamandra raises Ko from the dead with her time magic, then Galen reveals Ko's shared memory with Gethwing (and, indirectly, the location of Gethwing's birthplace and thus his immortality wheel) to everyone. Salamandra then leaves with Ko and Jabbo, making Eric shout that Salamandra has betrayed them. In order to reach Gethwing's wheel on Droon's moon, Parthnoop, the group needs to reach Plud, where Queen Zara's chariot is. Just before Pasha picks everyone up and drops them off at Plud, Eric pulls out his ancestor's photograph and suddenly realizes where he needs to go to find Urik, the only Son of Zara who is not in the group. While everyone else flails for ideas about how to transport Eric there, the mooples return and suggest using the Passages again. Eric follows them to the Fifth River and Zara's stone ship, where he hops onto the ship and steers it into a wall of water. The ship explodes at the watery wall, shooting Eric upward into the Upper World and backwards in time. The boy wizard finds himself near his own house, where he sees a golden-haired, blue-clothed child on a silver tree--a younger version of Eric. Shortly after the three birds Eric saw at Zorfendorf Castle arrive, Urik comes, too. The elderly wizard talks to the younger Eric and gives him the Pearl Sea. After the younger Eric leaves for home, the older Eric and Urik talk. In the conversation, Urik reveals that he is Eric's great-great-great-grandfather and was the Prince of Stars (and that the three birds are Otli, Jotli, and Motli, the Prince of Stars's companions). Urik realizes that he has to help save Droon, so he pulls out one of Salamandra's thorns from one of her time portals and creates another portal to Plud. Urik and Eric jump in and land in present-day Plud, where they find the rest of the group after fighting through Gethwing's monsters. After a tearful family reunion Urik has with Zara, Galen, and Sparr, the party runs to Zara's chariot and powers it up. Gethwing and his wingwolves chase the transport all the way to Parthnoop, though. The group reaches the Cave of Night, Gethwing's birthplace and the location of his immortality wheel. Gethwing also arrives and traps Eric, revealing the bracelet to be a mind control device (and that Gethwing distrusted Eric since the beginning of the book). As Gethwing cockily trusts the prophecy and burns himself in the moonlight, Ko arrives with Salamandra, Jabbo, and a suspect-looking collection of goblins. While Ko and Gethwing fight, Eric realizes that the disobedient goblins are actually enchanted Lumpies, meaning that Salamandra never completely betrayed the party after all. Eric breaks out of Gethwing's mind control and runs for Gethwing's wheel. Keeah, Julie, Neal, Urik, Galen, and Sparr do so as well, slowing the wheel down with their hands. Gethwing realizes that his precious wheel is slowing down, breaks away from his fight with Ko, and snatches Galen away from the wheel. Max realizes why the wheel is now speeding up, grabs a sword, and pummels Gethwing on the head until the dragon releases Galen. With all seven hands on the wheel as before, the wheel slows to a near-halt, and Gethwing falls unconscious. Otli, Jotli, and Motli fly in and notify everyone that Gethwing's armies, having noticed that their leader has fallen, have lost heart and are now being trounced by King Zello. Eric calls for mercy, claiming that they "do not kill", and ensures that everyone releases the wheel. Zara and her sons then restrain Gethwing with magical chains. Julie suggests that they go to Agrah-Voor, the land of the dead, and everyone agrees. At Agrah-Voor, the party meets Queen Hazad and a sobbing Shago. After Agrah-Voor's ghost heroes leave the place, Gethwing, Ko, and Princess Neffu are thrown in, along with all of their beastly minions. Zara and her sons seal the place up, and Queen Hazad leads the ghosts towards the rising sun and moon. While Salamandra prepares to leave, Eric asks her whether she is good or evil, and she replies that she is neither. The thorn queen then says that the prophecy Gethwing heard is actually not ancient at all, as she only told him that last Tuesday (in her point of view). Eric then tells her that her mysterious word, "Reki-ur-set", was actually an anagram of "Urik's tree" and was the key to finding his ancestor. Zara, lighting a candle and throwing it into the sky, brings light and peace to Droon again. The party sees a glimmer of light on the horizon, and Eric, thinking that it is the Rainbow Staircase, reflects on how he might never see Droon again. Urik eventually realizes that the glimmer is actually the first of the Seven Cities of Gold, which he had heard about in his previous travels. Eric, interrogating his ancestor, finds that not only did Urik create the map to the Seven Cities of Gold found earlier in Zorfendorf Castle, the castle is also named after him. Everyone then heads towards the first City of Gold in a glorious sunrise, ending the Secrets of Droon on a high note. Gethwing's Prophecy Five shall pass away, four shall wear the crown, three shall fall, two shall rise together, and one shall rise from the ashes and never see the end of days. The prophecy made to Gethwing was actually made by Queen Zara and given to the dragon by Queen Salamandra (sent to her from Zara through a dream). Although Gethwing knows he heard the prophecy on the night of his birth, Salamandra says that she actually said it relatively recently (it's only as old as last week according to her point of view). Gethwing initially interprets the "five" as the centuries that passed since his birth, the "four" as his Crown of Wizards (Gethwing, Sparr, Neffu, and Ungast), two of the "three" as Zara and Ko, the "two" as Ungast and himself, and the "one" as the immortal dragon himself. It turns out that the Moon Dragon only got one of the five sections completely right, as the "five" turn out as expected, the fallen "three" are actually Gethwing, Ko, and Neffu, the "two" rising are the sun and the moon, and the "one" that rises from the ashes is actually Droon itself. Neal interprets the "four" as himself, Eric, Julie, and Keeah, as he is the Genie King, Keaah is Princess of Droon, Julie was named a princess of the Oobja in The Sleeping Giant of Goll, and Eric is a descendant of Queen Zara. However, since Zara was the prophecy's creator, the "four" could also easily refer to her four "Sons": Urik, Galen, Sparr, and Eric (the latter of whom is actually her great-great-great-great grandson). Category:Books Category:Special Edition Books